Alcatel goes submarine

has signed a turnkey contract with

to upgrade its Mid Atlantic Crossing (MAC) submarine cable network linking North America, Latin America, Europe and the Pacific. Financial details have not been released.

The project will provide Global Crossing with additional capacity to support increased demand for data services and applications such as IP VPN, VoIP and IP video.

The MAC submarine cable system runs from Brookhaven to New York, Hollywood to Florida and St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. It connects to Global Crossing's Atlantic Crossing systems in Brookhaven and Hollywood, as well as to its South American Crossing and Pacific Crossing systems in St Croix.

Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel is to supply an end-to-end solution based on submarine optical networking equipment, including its dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) submarine line terminal, the Alcatel 1620 Light Manager. Alcatel says it will use its 1350 management suite to manage the new equipment. Alcatel will also be in charge of the installation, testing and commissioning.